BANDOENG, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - Since February 1927 the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosiers) has promoted the methodical evangelization of the indigenous people of that part of the Vicariate of Batavia, which, detached from it and erected into a prefecture (1932), was elevated to a vicariate on October 16, 1941.
Area of the territory, including the western part of Java: 24,449.25 sq. km.; population: 6,532,457 inhabitants, almost all Sundanese. Catholics (1948): 19,335 (18,250 Europeans; the rest mostly Javanese, the remainder Chinese); catechumens: 130. Missionary activity is carried out in 7 primary stations and 4 secondary stations by 20 priests of the Holy Cross and 1 indigenous priest, eight Brothers of St. Louis Gonzaga of Oudenbosch, and 127 sisters.
There are 11 elementary schools with 3,731 pupils; 2 middle schools with 206 pupils and 1 high school with 38 female students. 2 hospitals with 295 beds and 4 orphanages with 272 children.
Contact with the Sundanese, fanatical Muslims, is difficult due to the poor examples and maltreatment they have suffered at the hands of the colonizers; the Javanese and Chinese elements are more open to Catholic influence. From the boarding schools emerge recognized teachers who also form the cells of future Christian families.